1/11 Every year lots of people make money. And lots change the culture.
Very few do both.
This is why the high-end art market exists, to facilitate the exchange between financial and cultural capital.
If you understand this, you understand how NFT can take over the world 👇:
Very few do both.
This is why the high-end art market exists, to facilitate the exchange between financial and cultural capital.
If you understand this, you understand how NFT can take over the world 👇:
2/11 The founders of Twitter made money while changing the culture. But this is rare -- a few dozen cases per year.
Rather, most who make money do so in ways don’t directly shape culture, e.g. by investing. For these folks, showing proof of cultural literacy has value.
Why?
Rather, most who make money do so in ways don’t directly shape culture, e.g. by investing. For these folks, showing proof of cultural literacy has value.
Why?
3/11 Success in highly compensated, high prestige positions requires a masterful ability to lead and inspire via the active literacies -- speaking, writing, and video.
So being able to signal the cultural knowledge required here unlocks opportunity.
So being able to signal the cultural knowledge required here unlocks opportunity.
4/11 A lot of the “not sufficiently bullish” think that the winner of canvas vs NFT will come down to aesthetics. @punk6529
I disagree.
Rather, if NFTs surpass trad art in sales it will be because they’re vastly more efficient at signaling cultural fluency. Orders of magnitude.
I disagree.
Rather, if NFTs surpass trad art in sales it will be because they’re vastly more efficient at signaling cultural fluency. Orders of magnitude.
5/11 First, because NFTs are social -- share on Twitter or in the metaverse just as easily as above your stairway landing.
Second, because of provenance. Unlike with trad art, NFTs are not a lemon market.
Second, because of provenance. Unlike with trad art, NFTs are not a lemon market.
6/11 Third, it’s easy to browse the works of the top artists anywhere in the world and buy direct.
When you buy art from an NYC gallery, a large portion of the cost is going to support the landlords, not the artists or even the galleries. This creates signalling inefficiencies.
When you buy art from an NYC gallery, a large portion of the cost is going to support the landlords, not the artists or even the galleries. This creates signalling inefficiencies.
7/11 Fourth, NFTs last forever. Provenance doesn’t decrease over time, they don’t get lost or stolen, nor do they need to be restored.
And unlike my baseball cards, your parents can’t throw them out when you go to college. @CandyDigital @nbatopshot
And unlike my baseball cards, your parents can’t throw them out when you go to college. @CandyDigital @nbatopshot
8/11 What this all adds up to is a massively more efficient market. For each dollar spent, collectors get more cultural capital, and artists get more financial capital.
It’s a Pareto improvement. And the impact on each person involved is substantial.
It’s a Pareto improvement. And the impact on each person involved is substantial.
9/11 The key analog here is the adoption of digital cameras. Kodak abandoned the market right before it exploded, after inventing most of the tech, because they saw that it would take at least a decade for digital to surpass film in quality.
10/11 What they didn’t see was that digital would end up being vastly more efficient at getting Facebook likes, and that this would become the main thing most consumers cared about when choosing a new camera.
Film still has a place, but social needs won out over aesthetics.
Film still has a place, but social needs won out over aesthetics.
11/11 It’s going to take a while for most folks to “get it.” But once they do, they’re not going back. (No apostates in NFT.)
H/T thegaragejournal.org/files/04/498_0…
H/T thegaragejournal.org/files/04/498_0…
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